Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

This study examines the professional experiences of three teachers in a national network of urban, low-income serving, Catholic high schools. These teacher-participants were chosen to participate in this study because they engaged in experiential, community-based pedagogy within this national network and exemplified a commitment to social justice through their teaching practice. As detailed in Chapter One, such teaching practice resembles critical pedagogy and aligns with best practice in quality civic education. Therefore, by examining the experiences of critical educators, this study aimed to illuminate ways we can enhance civic learning for K-12 students by enhancing support for and removing the barriers to critical educators' distinct pedagogical practice. This is particularly important for Students of Color, who have faced historical exclusion from formal and informal modes of civic learning (Campbell, 2012; Lo, 2019). Critical theory (Freire, 1970/1993; Giroux, 2003; Horkheimer, 1972[1992]) and social reproduction theory (Bourdieu, 2016; Bowles & Gintis, 2016) were used to frame this study, which employed qualitative portraiture methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) to answer two key research questions. The first question— Why do teachers in this Network engage in experiential, community-based pedagogy? —drew attention to the internal and external factors impacting my participants' practice. This set up inquiry into the second key research question: How do these educators exhibit civic and/or critical consciousness about and through their work? Findings from this study revealed that both internal and external factors contributed to the choice teacher-participants made to engage in experiential, community-based pedagogy. Professional ecology, consisting of local school and corporate cultures, were particularly influential on these teachers. That ecology functioned in distinct ways at each study site to both aid and obstruct the critical teaching (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Érica Fernández (Committee Chair); Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member); Thomas Misco (Committee Member); Lisa Weems (Committee Member); Veronica Barrios (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Mathematics Education; Religious Education; Secondary Education; Social Studies Education; Teacher Education

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2022, Education

Occupational therapy education standards have recently changed to require students to demonstrate knowledge and use of the safe and effective application of physical agents. This change, which occurred in 2020, is more rigorous in the area of deep thermal and electrotherapeutic agents than in previous revisions. This mixed-methods convergent study surveyed occupational therapists who are also Certified Hand Therapists to learn how they developed competence in the use of electrotherapeutic and deep thermal physical agents and what they believed to be effective educational methods in their learning. A survey gathered quantitative data for the study. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were completed to gather qualitative data. Data analysis included descriptive statistics for quantitative data and demographic data, as well as inferential statistics through the use of single-factor analyses of variance with post hoc testing. Results indicated practitioners use a variety of training methods to develop competence in the use of complex physical agents. Continuing education and fieldwork education resulted in higher levels of independence when compared with manufacturer's sales representative training. Continuing education, fieldwork education, entry-level education, post-professional education, and on-the-job training were associated with higher levels of competence than no training at all, indicating the aforementioned methods were all effective in developing competence. Triangulated results support learner demonstration, supervised and repetitive practice, and feedback during learning as essential methods for developing competence in complex physical agents. This study provides recommendations for effective educational methods for teaching and learning complex physical agents applicable to occupational therapy educators, novice practitioners, and occupational therapy students.

Committee: Christine Denecker (Committee Chair); Jon Brasfield (Committee Member); Alfred Bracciano (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Curriculum Development; Education; Health Sciences; Higher Education; Occupational Therapy

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2021, Communication

The fields of holistic education and spiritual pedagogy suggest one of the most essential capacities for a teacher is to be present and/or demonstrate presence with students, however a gap exists in specifically defining what presence is and how to exhibit it with students communicatively. Some articles from the fields of mindfulness and contemplative studies suggest that contemplative practices may improve the capacity to be present. This research project sought to more deeply understand presence, define it, and explore the communication practices such as empathic listening, silence and immediacy behaviors holistic educators engage in when being present to students and demonstrating presence. The research questions included: RQ1: What life-experiences shape the way holistic educators communicate with students? RQ2: What contemplative practices do holistic educators use to prepare for communicating with students? RQ3: What communication practices do holistic educators use to be present with students? Using a qualitative approach, autoethnographic stories by the researcher and semi-structured interviews were conducted with six holistic educators. A thematic analysis found four main themes including holistic educators: (1) Combine conceptual and experiential approaches to learning; (2) Engage in contemplative practices daily to be present to students; (3) Seek to be present soulfully with their students, and (4) Communicate for communion. Several key concepts which emerged included presence, being present, communion, connectedness, darshan, student-centered learning, experiential learning, channeling, soulfulness and spirituality to name a few.

Committee: Kathleen Clark (Advisor); Natalie Sydorenko (Committee Member); Yang Lin (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Pedagogy; Psychology; Religious Education; Spirituality; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2018, Journalism (Communication)

The picture of advertising and public relations education that has emerged from this study represents a panorama skills, knowledge, and experience that are taught to students. This study examined questions of program effectiveness through four key areas—a) curriculum model, b) core skills, c) experiential learning, and d) practitioner and educator partnerships—through the perspective of award-winning agencies and university programs. This research found that there is a lack of focus when viewing pedagogy through the lens of the industry needs. From a distance, the picture appears to show harmonious composition between industry needs and education objectives, but closer inspection of the fine details reveal certain imperfections that may affect the appraised value of advertising and public relations education. This issue of misalignment between industry needs and education practice is not new, but one that should be continuously addressed to ensure the success of new graduates as advertising and public relations practitioners. In the context of the preferred curriculum model of advertising and public relations pedagogy, this study found that there is an agreement between practitioners and educators to merge those programs in some fashion, but there was disagreement on the scope of the integration ranging from a limited “hybrid” program to full convergence. An examination of core skills taught in the advertising and public relations curriculum found a misalignment of educational priorities between educators and practitioners. Those differences highlighted the practitioners' prioritization of: a) business writing over creative writing, b) small group communication and teamwork, c) enhanced critical thinking and research skills, d) a strong foundation of business management knowledge, and e) a repertoire of computer software proficiency. For experiential learning, there was noted support for pre-professional organizations and student agencies to supplement classroom (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michael Sweeney Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Hendrickson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Benjamin Bates Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joseph Phelps Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Mass Communications; Pedagogy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, EDU Policy and Leadership

Nurse educators must prepare students to care for a diverse population. Web-conferencing across diverse groups is one teaching method that may assist students to develop intercultural skills. Mixed-methods research was used to examine web-conferencing's influence on cultural competence and transcultural self-efficacy of American undergraduate nursing students. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and the National League for Nursing address importance of cultural competence in nursing, underscored by the disparity between nursing and US population: majority (83.2% nurses, 63% US population), minority (16.8% nurses, 37% US population). Current strategies to increase cultural competence of students include theory dissemination, study abroad, service learning, distance education, and simulation. Study abroad, the higher education platinum standard, is costly, and not feasible for all institutions/students. Merely 1.4 percent of US students study abroad. Thus, new experiential learning tools should be explored. Video and/or web-conferencing is used by disciplines world-wide to bridge distance and assist multicultural communication through live voice/video, and engage more students interculturally without the typical constraints of geography and resources, both human and financial. Technology is utilized for mutual scaffolding and social construction of knowledge. Content and culture are learned together with international peers. Freshman nursing students in a required general education course were recruited (n=33). Study participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n=18) or a control group (n=15). A student cohort from a University in Dublin, Ireland participated in the web-conferences but did not participate in this research. Students in the treatment/web-conferencing group participated in two web-conferences, covering topics presented in traditional lecture format with the control group. Thirteen students from web-conferencing group participa (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ada Demb EdD (Advisor); Antoinette Errante PhD (Committee Member); Margaret Clark-Graham PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology; Health Care; Health Education; Higher Education; Nursing; Pedagogy; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, Counselor Education (Education)

This constructivist grounded theory research study explored Master's level counselor education students' perceptions and experiences of being exposed to popular film clips for pedagogic purposes in the classroom. Over an eight month period, students in seven different counselor education courses were exposed to pedagogic film clip experiences in their classrooms. From this group of students drawn from two Midwestern universities, three rounds of face-to-face individual interviews and a focus group were conducted and forty participants described their classroom film experiences. Transcriptions of the interviews and focus group were used to gather data and to develop a constructivist grounded theory. Participants' descriptions of their experiences and perceptions indicated that students engage in a complex experiential meaning-making process as a result of exposure to and discussion of their film experiences. This experiential meaning-making process involves students making assessments regarding the level at which they will engage with the film experience, and includes personal reactions that surface for students. The experiential meaning-making process is also evident as students interact and discuss their film experiences within the social context of the classroom; as they attempt to connect the film clip material with course content; and as they integrate the film experience into their learning. Students' experiential meaning-making processes, dynamics of engagement, personal reaction experiences, social interaction processes, and involvement with cycling course content as a result of film experiences mutually influence each other. Students who participated in this study also described the significance of peer interaction and a positive and encouraging classroom environment in their experiential meaning-making processes. Students further endorsed film clips as being a powerful tool for those who are visually-oriented, and emphasized that the clips assisted in bring (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Davis (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Guidance and Counseling